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PROCEEDINGS 



OF TWO MEETINGS, 



HELD IN BOSTON, ON THE 7th & 14th JULY, 



TO PROTEST AGAINST THE 



NOMINATION OF GEN. SCOTT, 



FOR THE PRESIDENCY, 



AND TO RECOMMEND 



ION. DANIEL WEBSTER 

'icW. - 




BOSTON: 
PRINTED BY PRENTISS & SAWYER, 

No. 11 Devonshire Street. 

1852. 



£75, 



W.8- 
0Cfr 3 



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6^-*^, ^^o^ w^X^, y~a )i 



THE 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF TWO MEETINGS, 



HELD IN BOSTON, ON THE 7th & 14th JULY, 



TO PROTEST AGAINST THE 



NOMINATION OF GEN. SCOTT, 






FOE THE PRESIDENCY, 



AND TO RECOMMEND 



HON. DANIEL WEBSTER 



FOR THAT OFFICE. 



N 




* BOSTON: 
PRINTED BY PRENTISS & SAWYER, 

No. 11 Devonshire Street. 

1852. 



PROCEEDINGS 



Agreeably to a call very generally published in the journals of 
the city, a meeting of the citizens of the County of Suffolk, was held 
in Faneuil Hall, on Wednesday Evening, July 7, 1852, for the pur- 
pose of taking such measures as might be deemed proper, against sus- 
taining the nominations made at the Baltimore Convention of Whigs, 
on the twenty-first of June. The meeting was enthusiastically 
responded to, there being present between four and five thousand 
persons. 

Shortly after eight o'clock, the meeting was called to order by Mr. 
John Hammond, and Henry Williams, Esq., was chosen to preside 
over the meeting, and S. M. Hobbs, Wm. B. May, and James H. 
Blake, Esqs., were chosen Secretaries. 

On taking the Chair, Mr. Williams briefly addressed the audience 
upon the object for which they had assembled. He reviewed the 
action of the Baltimore Convention, and showed conclusively, that 
until the last day's balloting there was a fair majority of the Conven- 
tion opposed to the nomination of Gen. Scott, and that it was ulti- 
mately accomplished by the adroit management of aspiring politicians, 
who shamelessly set at naught the known wishes of a vast majority of 
the Whigs of the country. He counselled the Whigs to take courage, 
and go on in the good work of putting Daniel Webster in nomina- 
tion as the candidate of the people for the Presidency. 

Mr. Williams closed by comparing the frank, open position of Mr. 
Webster, on the Compromise, with the " mum " policy of Gen. Scott, 
and criticised severely the course of Gen. Scott in relation to his let- 
ter to the Baltimore Convention. 

His remarks were received with great applause. 



Hubbard Wixslow, Esq., was then introduced to the meeting, and 
spoke as follows : — 

Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens : 

No man can regret more sincerely than I do, the necessity which 
has called this meeting. I had hoped that before this time we should 
have been assembled to ratify the nomination of the man for whom 
the people wish to vote for our Chief Magistrate. But a previous and 
momentous duty is still before us. We have assembled as fellow citi- 
zens, bound together by ties far dearer and more sacred than those of 
party, not to shed vain tears over lost hopes, nor to eulogise one whom 
we tamely allow to be publicly dishonored. We mean to do something 
to the purpose. 

We have come, not to bury Coesar, not to praise him, for he is not 
dead, and our praise he does not need. We have come together to do 
what we can, in connection with the great people of the land, to place 
a greater and more deserving than Caesar in a position higher than 
Rome could offer. We have come to say, that the enlightened people 
of this Republic can appreciate true greatness, that they know how to 
be grateful, and will demonstrate both to the world. We have come 
to re-utter the Declaration of Independence, to say that the people of 
this land are free, and that they will, without regard to political parties, 
as true Americans, elevate to their highest office the greatest States- 
man, the firmest and most tried pillar, and the brightest living orna- 
ment of the nation. In short, we have come to say that DANIEL 
WEBSTER ought to be, and we hope, will be, by the loud 
acclaim of a free and patriotic people, President of the United States. 

Gentlemen, louder notes than ours will yet be struck in every part 
of the land. As the voice of many waters and of mighty thunderings, 
as the jubilant paean of angels, they will roll from sea to sea, proclaim- 
ing Daniel Webster the nation's choice ; and all the people will say, 
Amen. 

We bring no railing accusations against the Baltimore Convention. 
Many there did nobly ; and all praise to the valiant hearts of the old 
Bay State, who survived fifty assaults against fearful odds, and were 
only outnumbered, not conquered, at last. Temporary defeat is in 
such cases the signal for ultimate victory. Remember the events of 
Bunker Hill. Shoulder to shoulder with each other, and breast to 
breast with their antagonists did the invincible heroes struggle on, 



until their ammunition, not their hearts, failing ; their numbers, not 
their strength, surpassed ; they prudently retired from the. conflict. 

But it was a dear-bought victory for the enemy. It roused up and 
concentrated the energies of the indignant people of the land to assert 
their rights and to challenge and establish their independence. So it 
will prove now. Those who have begun to flatter themselves, and to 
burn gunpowder, with the expectation that the intelligent people of 
this country will abide the decision of the Baltimore Convention, have 
not duly appreciated the American intellect, nor studied the American 
character. Leviathan is not so tamed. The American people have 
had to take their salvation into their own hands before ; and they know 
how to do it again. Daniel, too, has been before in the lion's den ; 
but he came forth unharmed by the hand of an unseen Deliverer. So 
he will do again. 

It is enough to say that the real sentiments of the majority of the 
people were not represented in that Convention. A singular combi- 
nation of untoward circumstances within, conspired with improper 
influences from without, to bring matters to a bad issue, to place Mr. 
Webster in a false position before the world, and thus to perpetrate a 
great personal wrong upon him and disgrace upon the country. 

The only appeal now, is to the people, and that appeal will be made. 
This is in strict accordance with the spirit of the Constitution ; as no 
man can doubt who studies that instrument. It is indeed our only 
ultimate protection from the action of wire-pullers, office-seekers, dem- 
agogues, and venal magistrates. Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, said rightly, 
" All real control in the nomination of a chief magistrate has been 
taken out of the hands of the people and placed in those of unauthor- 
ised political juntos. The Constitution in this respect has been sub- 
verted." 

We now propose, gentlemen, to fall back upon the Constitution and 
to abide strictly by it ; to eschew all party ; and to appeal boldly to 
the free and independent citizens of the Republic. This appeal is 
without the knowledge of Mr. Webster. He may not like it. That 
cannot be helped. He has so long and earnestly taught us to obey 
the Constitution that he ought not to complain if we have learned the 
lesson and are ready to recite it. He has become the property of the 
nation, and must submit to its disposal. Perhaps he deserves some 
rebuke for his seeming indifference to our anxieties. That he could 
be slumbering so soundly through the night, to be prepared, as usual, 
to " learn the morning hour from the constellations, and to spring up- 





ward with the lark to greet the purpling east with blithe and jocund 
spirit," while we were in a wakeful agony of suspense, is almost 
provoking. And yet how such a spirit enhances the beauty of true 
greatness. 

But we shall not soon forget the thronging multitudes of State 
Street, awaiting with almost breathless solicitude the repeated throb- 
bings of those impassioned wires ; nor the deep gloom that settled on 
all faces, and seemed to pervade the entire city and country around us, 
when the final announcement came. The shock of an eartkcpiake 
would not have been more appalling. Never did the lightnings play 
so terribly on those mysterious rods. 

Mr. Chairman, we come to .offer no rude complaints against the 
gentleman whom the Convention have nominated for the Presidency ; 
much less to countenance those despicable arts of detraction, by which 
low and vulgar minds of one party seek to heap ridicule upon the can- 
didate of another. Shame on such infamous measures ! They who 
must needs join issue between a " hasty plate of soup," on the one 
hand, and a " Pierce-ing cry," on the other, must be reduced to 
wretched poverty of argument, or be in a pitiable state of mental 
imbecility. 

Franklin Pierce, I have no doubt, is a most worthy and excellent 
citizen. From all that I have learned of him, he is a truly amiable 
and upright man, and one whom, were there no person having a higher 
claim to the Presidency, I should not hesitate to support. But I can- 
not doubt that he himself really knows that the Presidency belongs, at 
least for the next four years, to his elder and more experienced brother 
of the Granite State. I hope he will yet see his way clear to vote for 
him. If he should, I will, for once in my life, make a bargain, and 
a°ree to vote for him next time. 

And as for Winfield Scott, who ought not to be loud in his praise '? 
He is, unquestionably, one of the most accomplished Generals of the 
nation. He has rendered service to his country that should honor him 
in all American hearts. He ought not to be President, for this one 
reason, if no more, that he is wanted in another sphere, — a sphere 
for which he has been trained from childhood, and in which he emi- 
nently shines. What would you think of placing Daniel Webster 
at the head of an important military campaign or battle, when Gen. 
Scott was at your service ? And for a similar reason, what ought you 
to think of placing General Scott to preside over and decide upon the 
deliberative councils of State, when Daniel Webster is at your ser- 



vice ? Why should common sense desert us in a case so plain ? Let 
each have his own place — let each contribute to the salvation and 
glory of the land, by filling the station for which nature and education 
and long experience, have signally prepared him. If illustrious valor 
is wanted on the field, not less so is profound statemanship in the 
national councils. Parvi sunt /oris arma, nisi est consilium domi. 

But there are other invincible reasons why Winfield Scott ought 
not to take the direction of the nation's councils, and why wise and 
considerate men should be slow to sustain him. Those great questions 
which have long and fearfully agitated the nation to its centre, and 
even threatened the very dissolution of the Union, were at length, by 
the highest and most intense devotion to the nation's intellect, constitu- 
tionally adjusted in the measures of the well known Compromise Bill. 
Of this bill, Daniel Webster, with the concurrence of Henky Clay 
and other profound statesmen, was the author. Standing firmly on the 
pillars of the Constitution, amidst the tumultuous conflict of popular 
sentiment, he settled principles of duty and plans of action to perpet- 
uate the Union, harmonise contending interests, and safely conduct the 
nation to future greatness and repose. 

Of the important principles and plans here divulged, every intelli- 
gent citizen in the land soon had a well defined and settled opinion — 
and every man, not timidly sensitive to the popular breath, or a slave 
to public sentiments, boldly avowed and maintained it. And yet, up 
to the very hour when they were about to canvass at Baltimore, Gen- 
eral Scott, who has never been suspected of wanting courage on the 
battle-field, had ventured no opinion and taken no ground on these 
momentous subjects; — and even then, it only appeared, that there 
was a private letter, in a certain friend's breeches pocket, in which he 
had expressed a willingness, if his friends judged it expedient, to 
endorse the sentiments of the Compromise, in case the Convention 
wished it as the condition of his nomination ! What say you to that, 
gentlemen ? What will the South and the West, so deeply interested 
in the bill, say to it ? We know what they will say — what they have 
be"Tin to say already. Is this the man to be entrusted with the 
nation's councils ? Will you put him at the head of the nation, who 
has already put himself into his friend's breeches pocket ? 

I do not detract an iota from his appropriate honor. My complaint 
of him is, that he does not for a moment make a truce with his vanity 
just enough to see that the Presidential Chair is not the place for him. 
He is a coward in State councils, only because he is here out of his 



8 

place. And, indeed, anything but cowardice must be what is still 
worse, fool-daring. For when a man is in a place in which he does 
not know how to act, unless he has the sense to get out of it, what 
remains for him but to be the tool of others, or recklessly venturesome ? 
Gen. Scott's conduct in the matter of the Compromise, only illustrates 
what all the world knows, that man is truly wise and is to be trusted 
only in his own calling. I do not know but Gen. Scott is as capable 
of conducting the helm of State through troublesome times, as Daniel 
"Webster is of conducting a steamboat through stormy seas. But I 
would not trust either of them thus out of his place. Give us the 
experienced navigator to guide our ships, Gen. Scott to guide our 
armies, Daniel Webster to guide our State councils. 

But we are told that Mr. Webster is undoubtedly the best of all 
living men for a President, but is " not available." I move, Sir, that 
those wicked words be put in chains for the remainder of the year '52. 
They have done mischief enough for one year. Let us appeal to the 
people, and see whether he is available. The people are not yet all 
fools, though wise politicians have tried hard to make them so. Give 
them a chance to speak for themselves on a comprehensive national 
ticket, and they will gloriously tell us what they know. 

But, Sir, if the question turns on availability, Gen. Scott is a most 
unfortunate candidate. The people will not choose him. The De- 
mocracy are the majority of the people, and the scathing letters of 
Gen. Jackson, whose word with them is law and gospel, are already 
on the wing. A distinguished gentleman of the Democratic party told 
me they would be circulated by millions, would penetrate all the mines 
of Pennsylvania, every cabin of the West and South, and would 
effectually annihilate him in the estimation of every Democrat in 
America. The same gentleman said, that while not a Democrat will 
vote for Scott, thousands of them are ready to vote for Webster. 

As to the Whigs, we are certain that a large proportion of them will 
not sustain Scott, whether Webster is before them or not. Hi3 
chance is therefore desperate. He is a Wm-jield, but will never be a 
win vote. Our only hope is in the nation's favorite, Daniel Webster, 
on a free Union ticket. To this let all true patriots turn their hearts. 
Gentlemen, the humble individual who has the honor to address 
you, is an old-fashioned, Washington, Hamilton, Webster Whig. 
My earliest recollections are of Hamilton, as represented in a was 
figure, dying by the hands of Aaron Burr. I was led to examine 
his writings and compare his views, subsequently, with those of Wash- 



!) 



ington, and more recently with those of Webster. Never did three 
men think more alike touching the true policy and interests of this 
Federal Republic. They are the bright trio, the Orion belt of our 
firmament — let the principles which they inculcated be firmly sus- 
tained, and our Republic will last as long and shine as brilliantly as 
the glorious constellation which these advocates represent. 

Nor do we forget John C. Calhoun. A nobler spirit never honor- 
ed our nation's councils. If he sometimes favors a little too much his 
own State, and not enough the entire Union, it was the venial fault of 
an affectionate father, who loved his own children best. The error, if 
one it was, was lost in the flooding glories of his whole public and pri- 
vate life. He truly loved the nation and did for its interests what 
few men have been able to do. Our hearts would have rejoiced to see 
him President of the United States. 

Let it not be counted a sacrilege so soon to touch the ashes of 
Henry Clay. Immortal life is breathed into them, and they belong 
to the nation. His ascended spirit looks from its imperial throne over 
the land which his illustrious life and labors blessed, and his sympa- 
thies are all with us. He was nominated for the Presidency, but was 
defeated by corruption at the polls. A wound was inflicted upon our 
hearts which can never be healed but by the elevation of his twin 
brother in glory. Let the united honors be theirs ; if, indeed, honor 
can be conferred on men who, like the sun, seem only capable of 
shedding lustre on the land without receiving any addition to their 
own. Let Henry Clay be enshrined in our hearts as the man whom 
we desired for our President, and let him be perpetuated and embod- 
ied in all that is mortal and immortal of Daniel Webster as the man 
we secured. what a balm of consolation for a nation of weeping 
hearts ! 

And, gentlemen, must those three greatest of the men of this gen- 
eration descend to their graves, without giving the honor of one of 
their names to the Presidential office ? Must the only survivor of the 
three be allowed to pass away without the people even being allowed a 
chance to vote for him ? God forbid ! No ! Invoking the aid of 
Him who rules the destinies of nations, we say deliberately and firmly, 
it shall not be ! Daniel Webster will be placed before the great 
and sovereign people of the nation, in his untrammeled greatness, in 
all the lustre of his living self, and every voter who knows his right 
hand from his left, shall have a chance to choose him. If the Whig 
party has not the sense nor the ability even to nominate him ; if it 
2 



10 

thus ungratefully abandons its greatest and truest friend, to whom it 
owes infinitely more than to any other living man, there is folly and 
corruption in its ranks ; it has ceased to be what it was ; its glory has 
departed ; salvation shall come from another source. And come it 
will ! Thanks to Heaven ! we live in a free government, after all ; 
and the people will rule. 

Nor can we fail to speak, in terms of uncpaalified admiration, of the 
present incumbent of the Presidential chair. His consistent and dig- 
nified course, his fidelity to all the great interests reposed in him, have 
won him the nation's lasting gratitude. But as he has had his turn of 
service, no man feels more deeply than himself that the place now be- 
longs to his illustrious senior in years and service. He was ready at 
any moment, during the session of the Convention, to give him the 
preference. 

Vinci quam vincere mahait. 

This noble spirit has won him imperishable laurels in all parts of the 
land. 

And now, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, as other speakers are to 
succeed me, I ought to release your attention. Allow me, before 
closing, briefly to state a few of the many reasons why measures should 
be immediately taken to bring Mr. Webster before the people. 

1. The decision of the Baltimore Convention was not a true expo- 
nent of the wishes of the great body of the people. We have abund- 
ant facts to prove this, but time forbids me here to divulge them. 
They will be forthcoming when needed. As the people were not rep- 
resented there, it is constitutional and right to take measures by which 
they may represent themselves in another way. 

2. The Presidency of the United States, all admit, clearly belongs 
to Mr. Webster. He has abundantly earned it, by a long life of in- 
tense self-sacrificing and successful public service. The service of no 
other living man can compare with his. He has saved us from wars 
abroad, and distractions at home ; he has stretched his broad arms 
from Maine to Georgia, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and held 
us together as a nation ; his wisdom has permeated and expounded, 
and his eloquence has defended the Constitution of the Union ■ the 
grandeur of his intellect and the power of his State-logic, has given 
us character and importance in foreign lands ; and he has done all 
with unparalleled steadfastness and singleness of aim to the permanent 
welfare and glory of the entire nation. 



11 

A fraction of his time, with his commanding powers at the bar, 
mio-ht have lavished wealth upon him. He might have lived in com- 
parative ease and luxury ; he might have reposed in gardens of pleas- 
ure, or revelled in the sweets of refined literature ; he might have 
retired, with ample means, to pass the evening of his days on his 
beloved farm, there, surrounded with all that earth can give, to sing 
with his favorite bard of Mantua — 

O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona novint, 
Agricolas ! quibus ipsa, procul discordibus armis, 
Fundit hunio facilem victum, justisshna tellus. 

But no ; he has laid his great talents, his whole life, all he has, and is 
upon the altar of his country's welfare. He is father and guardian of 
an entire generation, and shall he now in his advanced years, be set 
aside by the very children whom he has thus loved and blessed. 
Patriotic young men of Boston, what do you say ? "What you say will 
be responded by the young men of other cities all over the land. 

3. Mr. Webstkr lives in the hearts of all true American Union- 
ists. All true friends of their country love and honor him with an 
affection transcending the bounds of party. Hence he will command 
a large vote from the noble-hearted Democrats. A gentleman of high 
standing and influence, who has held important offices of State, said to 
me yesterday, ' ' I have always been a firm Democrat of the old school ; 
if the choice lies between Scott and Pierce, I shall, of course, vote 
for Pierce, but if Daniel Webster is brought before the people, I 
shall vote for him. It is a disgrace," said he, " not only to the Whig 
party, but to our- whole country, to have such a glorious man set 
aside." 

And, Sir, this is the feeling of multitudes of that political creed. 
All parties are waking up to this subject ; the national pride is touched ; 
such enthusiasm will soon be developed all over the land as has not 
been realized since Washington took the chair. 

A gentleman from New York City said to me yesterday, " New 
York will never submit to the nomination at Baltimore — never ! — 
never ! Begin in Boston — let the old Cradle of Liberty again rock 
the Genius of Independence, and we are ready to follow you. Bring 
Daniel Webster forward, and we are with you." 

Sir, the eyes of all are now turning to Massachusetts. They expect 
us to take the lead. It is not the first struggle by which Massachusetts 



12 

has led the nation to victory and glory. That Bunker Hill Monument, 
whose foundation and whose cap-stone were laid amidst the thundering 
voices of the people, responded to patriotic elocpience of the American 
statesman, has yet another victory to commemorate. 

4. Leaving Mr. Fillmore out of the account, Mr. Webster is the 
only man who can command the votes of the South. The South well 
knows what Mr. Webster has done and suffered for it, and its warm 
and generous heart kuows how to he grateful. That heart has not 
been spoken. More than a hundred of the Southern delegates at the 
Convention were ready at any moment to vote for his nomination, hut 
were kept hack, temporarily, from motives of policy. They are now 
ready. Already, tidings have reached us, that their throbbing hearts 
are about to speak, and when the utterance comes, it will be as a pro- 
longed and mighty peal of thunder, set to the tune of Hail Columbia. 
And a voice will be heard, as the voice of a trumpet, proclaiming, 
" Say to the North, give up, and to the South, keep not back. Maine 
and Georgia will hear it and obey." A voice from the Toombs of 
Georgia has already reached us. 

5. The succession of Mr. Webster to Mr. Fillmore will occasion 
no jar in the present administration. There will be no turning of men 
out of office, to make room for political friends. He will enter upon 
his office unpledged to a single being ; and all who know him (and 
who does not ?) knows that even his opponents have nothing to fear 
from him. A truly magnanimous mind, like his, is incapable of re- 
venue. He knows only how to overcome evil with good. This fact 
will be of great service in securing the cooperation of those who might 
otherwise wish to defeat his election. Those who are now anxious to 
brino- Mr. Webster before the people are not office-seekers ; nor will 
they be office-holders. For my humble self, with my present position 
and feelings, nothing could induce me to accept any office in the power 
of Government to bestow. And I know this to be true of the great 
body of gentlemen who wish to wipe away a disgrace from the nation. 
Let those in office who opposed Mr. Webster's nomination from this 
time only allow justice to be done, and not a hair of then heads will 
perish. 

Mr. Webster's great work as President of the United States would 
be, we all know from his past course, to carry out faithfully the present 
administration, in which he is engaged ; to fulfil all the conditions of the 
Compromise ; to establish and confirm the Union on the broad basis of 
the Constitution ; to settle, definitely and forever, the delicate points 



13 

of our foreign as well as domestic relations ; to protect our industry 
and our commerce ; to take the direction of matters from the hands of 
selfish politicians, and establish constitutional rights ; to institute a 
judicious and equitable tariff, that will at once defend us from danger- 
ous monopolies, and protect the rights of the middling classes and of 
the laboring classes ; to foster institutions of learning, and to encour- 
age internal improvements ; in a word, to lead the nation steadily on- 
ward to that elevation and security and glory, which shall realize the 
immortal Washington's dying vision of the future Republic of 
America. 

6. As Mr. Webster belongs to the nation, the people of the land 
owe it to themselves, not less than to him, to take him triumphantly 
out of the hands of his revilers. So they did in the case of Wash- 
ington ; for he too had his enemies and traducers. By placing him 
where they did, they at length silenced the tongue of slander, set him 
in the clear upper sky, and handed him down to posterity with a name 
that an angel might envy. The same duty devolves on us, in relation 
to our present Washington. 

I cannot claim the honor of an intimate personal acquaintance with 
Mr. Webster. Were I disposed to envy any body, I should certainly 
envy those who have that honor. My only knowledge of him is from 
his doings and writings, which are before the world. 

But, Sir, I have the honor of a personal acquaintance with gentle- 
men of the highest and most delicate integrity who do know him most 
intimately, and who have been with him early and late, and at all 
times — in seasons most free aud unconstrained, and in hours of tempt- 
ation most trying — who solemnly declare that a man of purer mind 
and more correct habits they never knew. 

" No other living man," if I may use the language of your excel- 
lent Mayor in a personal conversation — "has been so shamefully 
slandered." Not only his public acts, but even his private character, 
has been assailed. Gentlemen, you understand me. Miserable, con- 
temptible abuse ! Spawn of envy and malice ! Male suoit qui male 
pense. Or, to put a more charitable construction, the pitiable artifice 
of little and vain minds, that think to add something to themselves by 
plucking a wreath from a great man's brow. Every man of common 
sense ought to know better than to believe this slander. 

The man who can do what Mr. Webster has done, through every 
day of a long and most laborious life ; who can rise with the lark, 
sustain from ten to fifteen hours a day of most responsible and exhaust- 



14 



ing mental effort, and yet be ever ready to welcome his friends with 
the same cheerful serenity ; who could elicit and put forth those vol- 
umes of profound and masterly thought, chaste and classical diction, 
elevated and splendid imagery, which have done more than any other 
writings to stamp an intellectual character upon America ; who could 
conduct the most involved and difficult negotiations that ever engaged 
the human mind, with a calmness, clearness, steadiness, and compre- 
hensiveness that never failed of success ; who has actually borne, for 
a cpiarter of a century, the whole nation, President and all, upon his 
shoulders — I say, the man who can do all this, without both intellect- 
ual and physical habits of the highest order, must be more than human. 
All this Daniel Webster has done ; and it is high time that the 
intelligent citizens of this land have an opportunity to tell the world 
and posterity how they regard him. 

But it is said, " Mr. Webster is admired by all, but is not popu- 
lar." So said to me this day a gentleman whom I greatly honor. 
Not popular ? with tvhom ? with political demagogues ; — with certain 
designing spirits that hover about conventions ; with office-seekers ; 
with men of low ambition at Washington ; who wish for President a 
man whom they can use — a tool — one that knows even less of State 
councils than themselves — a President whose chief glory and defence 
must be in doing just as they bid him. They well know that Daniel 
Webster is not that man ; therefore he is with them unpopular. For 
this very reason we wish to take him out of their hands and place him 
where he belongs, — in the hands of the people. 

7. My final reason for action is, that this is our last chance. If 
Mr. Webster is not our next President, he never will be our Presi- 
dent. The die is cast forever ! And, Sir, although he can afford to 
do without us, we cannot afford to do without him. He may, with 
only a weeping heart, leave us, but we with nothing less than bleeding 
hearts can leave him. If he now retires from the councils of the na- 
tion of which he has so long been the leading mind, it will be to cast 
a lingering eye of sadness upon our folly, and to grieve at our errors 
and our misrule, and I fear to find too early a grave. But give him 
this object to live for, let his long and brilliant career culminate in the 
proclaimed voice of the nation making him its chief magistrate, and 
the most useful and illustrious years of his life yet await him ; for man 
is immortal, so long as their remains a work for him. 

On retiring from the Presidency, after four years of service, he will 
let fall his mantle upon a worthy successor, and the people, blessed 



15 

with his example and his counsels, will forever know what kind of a 
man it is best to choose to preside over the nation. They will have 
learned a lesson never to be forgotten — a lesson that will protect the 
dignity of office and the honor of the nation. And when, many 
years hence, every avenue that leads to the tomb of Marshfield 
shall be trodden hard, strangers from distant lands will not need to be 
told that it was done by the feet of grateful and admiring people 
going to pay the homage of their tears over the dust of their second 
Washington. 

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I conclude as I began, with saying, 
as the sense of this meeting, that Daniel Webster ought to be, 
and, God helping, will be, the next President op the United 
States. 

[During the delivery of the above most eloquent and powerful 
address, Mr. Winslow was repeatedly honored with the most earnest 
and enthusiastic applause. The address was listened to with profound 
and gratifying attention.] 

The following Preamble and Resolutions were then read, at the 
request of the Chairman, by Mr. Winslow. 

Whereas, We believe that though the policy of holding Conven- 
tions for the purpose of uniting political parties and concentrating then- 
action, is, in principle, a sound one, and that the doings of such Con- 
ventions, when in accordance with the clearly expressed wishes and 
sentiments of their constituents, are obligatory upon them, yet, we 
further believe, that unless such regard is paid in the selection of 
candidates for office, to the well-known preferences of those represent- 
ed, the action of Conventions is morally and politically of no binding 
force ; 

And, whereas, We believe that, in the recent nomination of Gen. 
Scott, at the Baltimore Convention, the undoubted sentiments of a 
large majority of the Whig Party throughout the Union have been 
utterly disregarded, and that the Convention, in calling upon Whigs to 
give their support to this nomination, are asking them to vote for one 
who is, undeniably, not the man of their choice ; — moreover, that in 
so doing, they further ask them to set aside a candidate of vastly supe- 
rior abilities and qualifications for the office ; 

And whereas, The present occasion is one more favorable than will 



16 

be likely again to occur, for entering a general protest against a nomi- 
nation made so directly in opposition to the common sense, patriotism, 
and intelligence of the Whig Party, and of the whole American Peo- 
ple, therefore, 

Resolved, That the Whigs of Massachusetts have received the an- 
nouncement of General Scott's nomination with deep chagrin and 
disappointment, and that, as a party, we feel absolved from all obliga- 
tion to support his nomination ; that no considerations of expediency, 
or of the imagined interests of the party, shall make us swerve from 
our fixed determination to oppose his election by every lawful means 
in our power ; and that, in pursuance of this purpose, we will unite 
with all good men of our party, and of the other parties of our coun- 
try, in taking measures to place in nomination the greatest of America's 
sons next to the immortal Washington — a candidate who, from his 
surpassing talents, his long-tried public services, his patriotic feelings, 
and his unequalled statesmanship, is commended to the nation as more 
worthy of the high office of the Chief Magistracy of the United States, 
and better fitted to perform its duties, than ANY OTHER MAN. 

Resolved, That in the recent decease of the Hon. Henry Clay, 
the nation has lost a profound statesman, an unswerving patriot, and 
a great man ; and that, while this event fills us with profound emotions 
of grief, we are, at the same time, admonished that of that glorious 
triumvirate of statesmen, which has controlled and directed, more than 
all others, for the last forty years, the political destinies of our country, 
there now remains but one — the greatest of all — and that an oppor- 
tunity is now offered — and the last — when a grateful people may 
show that they can as well appreciate and reward civil greatness and 
intellectual superiority, as that commoner quality, military valor. 

Resolved, That the great mass of the people are ever true in their 
instincts, and ever to be trusted, and that those who fear to commit 
their cause to the decision of this tribunal, and who seek to dictate to 
them whom they shall choose as President of the United States, in 
utter disregard of their known feelings and judgment as to who would, 
most ivorthily in himself and most honorably to the nation occupy that 
place, should be, for once, made to feel, by an earnest protest at the 
ballot-box, which shall be heard from Maine to California, that, 
despite the fears and intrigues of party politicians, the people can be 
depended upon to make their own selections of suitable candidates, 
and to vindicate the nation from the charge that "Republics are 

EVER UNGRATEFUL." 



17 

Resolved, That, in denying the "availability'''' of the most eminent 
statesman of the day, the proudest intellect of the age, DANIEL 
WEBSTER, they who doubt the success which such a candidate 
would meet with from the hands of the American People, show a 
want of confidence in their ability to appreciate greatness like his, as 
well as in their gratitude for his services and enthusiastic admiration 
for the man, which they, by their eager zeal to promote his election, 
should an opportunity be afforded them, will indignantly rebuke. 

Resolved, That we have full faith, not only in the " availability'" 
of DANIEL WEBSTER, but in the triumphant success which awaits 
the party that shall put his name before the people, as a Candidate for 
the office of President ; and that we hasten to spread out to the breeze 
the standard inscribed with his name ; confident that it will be greeted 
with acclamations throughout the country ; and that, under its folds, 
we shall be led on to a TRIUMPHANT AND SUCCESSFUL 
RESULT. 

Resolved, finally, That to promote the objects specified in the 
foregoing Preamble and Resolutions, measures be at once taken by 
this meeting for causing a Convention of those favorable to the nomi- 
nation of the Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER, without distinction 
op party, to be called at an early day, and that be a Com- 
mittee to prepare and circulate a suitable Address to the friends of 
Mr. WEBSTER, in all the States of the Union, inviting and uro-insr 
their hearty and strenuous cooperation with us for the accomplishment 
of the noble and glorious purpose we have in view. 

Horace H. Day, Esq., was then called upon to say a few words. 
He said in substance : — 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, — The same intelligence which indu- 
ces me to prefer the greatest man of the age as the candidate for the 
Presidency, will induce me to abstain from attempting here, and now, 
a speech, at this late hour. I do not wish to mar the beautiful, pa- 
triotic, and intelligent address, to which we have all listened with so 
much pleasure, from your chosen speaker. I heartily endorse the sen- 
timents of that address. I did not come here prepared to make a 
speech. It is gratifying to witness the absence of mere politicians 
from this meeting, and the spontaneous rising of the people, who are 
in no wise influenced by wire-pulling. I rejoice to have this night 
seen Faneuil Hall filled, crowded, every nook and corner, even every 
8 



18 



window-niche and standing-place, crammed with such an enlightened, 
intelligent, orderly, and enthusiastic body of Massachusetts Whigs 
and freemen. I know and feel what brought you here to-night. 

I intend to say but one word. I live in the patriotic State of New 
Jersey. The nomination of Gen. Scott does not meet the approval 
of the body of Jersey Whigs. Indeed, the State of New Jersey was 
misrepresented in the Baltimore Convention, and, mark my word, the 
ides of November will so prove. 

The above Resolutions were now unanimously passed. 

It was then Voted, that when the meeting adjourn, it adjourn to 
meet again on Wednesday Evening, July 14, at eight o'clock, to con- 
sider an Address to the people of the United States, and take measures 
to secure the election of Mr. Webster. 

Messrs. William Hayden, Tolman Willey, Hubbard Winslow, 
Henry Williams, George Darracott, and James H. Blake, were 
chosen a Committee of Correspondence, and to prepare a suitable 
Address to the people, of all parties, of the United States. 

The meeting then adjourned to assemble at the same place on the 
evening of the fourteenth of July. 

HENRY WILLIAMS, Chairman. 

S. M. Hobbs, 

William B. May, ^ Secretaries. 

James H. Blake, 



ADJOURNED MEETING. 



In accordance with the vote passed on the seventh instant, the 
Whigs of the County of Suffolk, opposed to the nomination of the 
Baltimore Convention, met in Faneuil Hall, on the evening of 
Wednesday, the fourteenth of July. At half past eight o'clock, 
Henry Williams, Esq., took the Chan. The Hall was nearly full. 
He proceeded to address the meeting, in furtherance of the object for 
which it had met, and alluded to the measures which had been taken 
by the leaders in this movement to ensure the nomination of Mr. 
Webster. He remarked that the measure first originated in Boston. 
He also objected to the movement made to call a convention at Phil- 
adelphia, in August. It should have been deferred until things were 
ready for such a movement. After this meeting, active measures were 
to be taken to ensure a convention which would command respect. 
Mr. Williams administered a stern and deserved rebuke to the faint- 
hearted supporters of Mr. Webster. He closed by urging firmness 
on the part of those engaged in the cause, and believed it would yet 
result gloriously, and announcing that an "Address to the people of 
the United States " had been prepared, and would be submitted during 
the evening. 

There was now a general call for Hubbard Winslow, Esq., in re- 
sponse to which that gentleman spoke at great length and with masterly 
ability. He was particularly happy in descanting upon, and defining 
the true powers of nominating Conventions. He was fully of opinion, 
and demonstrated to the entire satisfaction of his auditory, that such 
was the action and the means resorted to, to procure the nomination of 
Gen. Scott by the Baltimore Convention, that no true Whig was, in 
honor or good faith, bound to support that gentleman. He made a 



very strong argument against the policy of a resort to mere military 
men, to the exclusion of accomplished and experienced civilians, who 
had spent their lives in devotion to the affairs of State, and whose 
patriotism was, beyond all doubt, fully established. Mr. Winslow 
closed by an earnest and thrilling appeal to devoted friends of the 
country, of all political parties, " to put their shoulders to the wheels," 
even at this late day, to unite their energies for the great and righteous 
object of putting in nomination the man of the people's choice, the 
Hon. Daniel Webster. More than this, he expressed a strong con- 
viction that the case was not so desperate as to preclude a chance of 
ultimate success. 

By request of the Chairman, Mr. Winslow then read the following 



ADDRESS 

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

A numerous gathering of the citizens of Boston, who are dissatisfied 
with the nomination made by the Whig party at the recent Convention 
held in Baltimore, hereby present the name of 

DANIEL WEBSTER, 

as a candidate, independent of party, for the office of President of the 
United States. 

We take this step in no factious spirit ; we are not impelled to it by 
any motives of self-interest ; we are neither politicians, nor seekers 
after office ; we have no ends to serve which separate us, in any man- 
ner, from our fellow citizens ; but we have looked upon the action of 
the Whig Convention with deep sorrow, — with bitter regret, — and 
we feel called upon, by a sense of duty higher than allegiance to party, 
to enter our protest against that action, and publicly to avow our de- 
termination, not only not to sustain it, but to do whatever lies in our 
power to elect the man who should have been its candidate, and who 
would have been its candidate had not the good sense of the great 
mass of the Whig party been circumvented by a few designing, cold- 
blooded, selfish politicians ! 



21 

Fellow Citizens : — Under ordinary circumstances — against the 
candidates of the two great political parties — an independent nomi- 
nation, we are well aware, would be of no avail. But we say, and 
the people of the United States, of all parties, will bear witness to the 
truth of our assertion, that neither of the names offered for your suf- 
frages are such as should have been presented at this time. We ask 
you to consider whether the election of either the Whig or Democratic 
candidate will tend to promote the best interest of our common coun- 
try, to give it a commanding position before the world, or encourage 
the friends of freedom in other lands to struggle for the triumph of the 
"divine right" of self-government? Whether, in fact, the election 
of either of the party candidates will not tend to weaken our own con- 
fidence in our own institutions, and to strengthen the hands of tyranny 
in the old world. 

We make this nomination then, under no ordinary circumstances, 
nor for any ordinary purpose. We present the name of a man for 
your suffrages who commands the respect, the esteem, and the admira- 
tion of every patriotic citizen of our broad land, be his. party predilec- 
tions what they may ; who commands the entire confidence of men of 
all parties at home, and who stands before the world as the greatest 
statesman of the age. We believe that the discontent with the nomi- 
nations of both the great parties is wide-spread, deep, and well-found- 
ed ; and that if every man who agrees with us in opinion will for once 
throw aside the trammels of party, and vote according to the dictate of 
his own unbiased judgment, success may attend us. We call, there- 
fore, upon all such men to unite with us upon this great issue. We 
appeal to their patriotism, their love of country, and of the Union ; 
their regard for liberty and the right of self-government ; their national 
pride and their own best interest, to join in one well-concerted effort to 
place Daniel Webster in the Presidential Chair. 

And why should not this effort be made ? Why should the intelli- 
gent people of this great country bend in slavish submission to the 
behests of a few men who make politics a trade, and use the political 
machinery of party organizations merely to serve their own interest ; 
whose artful management has thrust aside the greatest men of both 
parties, and who have now for the fourth time declared, that neither 
talents, nor statemanship, nor patriotism, nor integrity, nor a long life 
ardently devoted to the public service shall be taken into consideration 
in the selection of our Chief Magistrate ? 



22 



Why should not this effort be made, when we know that it is emi- 
nently right i That in making it we are performing a high and a 
holy duty, and that whether it be crowned by success or not every 
man who lends it his aid will have the heartfelt satisfaction of knowing 
that victory will be a glorious triumph indeed, but that no dishonor 
will follow defeat. 

In this effort we earnestly ask the cooperation of our fellow-citizens 
in other States who think as we do ; of all those who prefer country to 
party, and who have moral courage enough to express that preference. 
We are ready to meet with them at any time and at any place, to con- 
sult and combine with them ; to do whatever may be done to redeem 
the errors of party leaders, and to place our country in the proud 
position she ought to occupy before the world. 



TO OUR FELLOW CITIZENS OF MASSACHUSETTS 

We say, that it is owing, in some measure, to the influence exerted 
at Baltimore, by the false hearts and the false tongues of some 
of our own politicians, that Daniel Webster is not now the candi- 
date of the Whig party. For were not those hearts false which 
expressed their own preference for him while they insidiously used 
every effort against him ? And were not those tongues false which 
declared that Daniel Webster could not carry the electoral votes of 
his own State ? 

It is owing in part, also, to the action of two of our own delegates 
in that Convention, that our great statesman was thrust aside to make 
way for a mere military chieftain : — to the vote of one of them who 
expressed a strong preference for Mr. Webster, and yet voted against 
him fifty-three times, on the poor pretence that he is not popular with 
the people ! And to the vote of another who " could not conscien- 
tiously support the man who made that seventh of March speech," 
even after he had openly declared, as he had in that Convention, that 
the doctrines of that speech are all right and true, and that they stand 
— and must stand — as the corner-stone of our Union. It is because 
we have been thus misrepresented, and because our State has been 
thus slandered by some of our own fellow citizens, that we feel called 
upon (o speak oul as we have spoken, without waiting the action of 
other States. 



23 



There are thousands amongst us — Whigs and Democrats — who 
will not give their votes to either of the party candidates ; thousands 
of all parties who earnestly desire to express their disapproval of the 
political trickery which has set aside the greatest name in our country 
— the greatest living man in the world : — thousands, who, if they do 
no more, will refrain from casting their votes at the coming election. 
To all such we say, that silence is not enough ; to abstain from voting 
is the next thing to supporting candidates to whose election we are 
opposed ; let us, therefore, express our disapprobation in such manner 
as to make it tell, and thus administer a rebuke to selfish schemers that 
will be remembered, and that will exercise a salutary influence here- 
after. Let us go to the polls, one and all, and deposit our ballots for 
Daniel Webster. 

Fellow Citizens ! We shall be assailed by those who have brought 
us to this strait, if we thus dare to exercise our rights : we shall be 
denounced as traitors to the parties with which we have heretofore 
acted. Be it so ; we can retort upon our assailants that they have 
been false to the trust reposed in them ; — false to their party, — false 
to the Union, — false to the country, — false to the great interests of 
liberty and self-government throughout the world : and if evil comes 
of their action, let that evil rest upon their own heads. For ourselves, 
let us have no part nor lot in the matter, but in the independent exer- 
cise of our suffrage let us show to the world that we cannot be bought 
and sold, like sheep hi the shambles, by a few unprincipled men whose 
desire to serve their own petty interests is their only rule of political 
action. Let us do our duty — our whole duty — like men who have 
principles of our own, and judgment of our own. Let us do what we 
can to remedy the wrongs inflicted upon our country by scheming poli- 
ticians, and success may crown our efforts. Man proposes, but God 
disposes : let us act well our part and leave the event in humble 
trust to Him whose unsleeping eye is ever watching over us. 

The above patriotic and able Address was accepted amid the earnest 
cheers of the large, enthusiastic, and respectable audience. 

After further remarks from several gentlemen, the meeting was 
dissolved, with nine cheers for DANIEL WEBSTER and the 
Presidency. 

Throughout both meetings, though there were those present who 
evidently came for factious purposes, and were bent on making disturb- 
ance, there was manifested the strongest devotion and attachment to 



24 

our distinguished candidate, Mr. Webster, and a fixed and unalter- 
able determination to support him, at all hazards, and in no way or 
shape to countenance the nomination of Gen. Scott, whose position 
has been shown by his acts, and by his intriguing partizan and aspiring 
friends, as not the man who deserves the support of the American 
people for the highest office in their gift. 
For the Committee, 

HENRY WILLIAMS, Chairman. 



S. M. Hobbs, \ 

William B. May, > Secretaries. 

James H. Blake, j 



Boston, July 14, 1852. 



t I9t 868 110 



ssaaoNoo do Aawaan 



